CalicoPenn

My take on Scout Sunday is, if the unit is sponsored by a church or church organization (like to KofC), then it should be "all hands on deck" to attend that Sunday's service at the sponsoring church, regardless of religion. It shows respect to the chartering organization and is in line with A Scout is Reverent. Savvy units will have spoken with the pastor well ahead of time to let them know they will have boys of varying faiths in attendance that day - most will work Scout Sunday into their services. So that I'm clear, when I say "all hands on deck", I do mean that if you're sponsored by an RC church and you have a couple of Jewish boys in the unit, they should attend as well. As should any Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Muslims, Mormons, Deists, Animists, etc. etc. etc. (and yes, even suspected Athiests). BTW - that goes for all - if the unit is sponsored by a Synagogue and there are a a couple of Roman Catholic boys in the unit, they should attend Scout Sabbath. If the unit is not sponsored by a church, my suggestion would be to partner with a local Community Church, which is often non-denominational, or whichever is the most welcoming church or synagogue in the area.

The big question - is the Scout receiving his Eagle Scout rank Catholic and does he attend this church? If not, talk to the Parish Priest and see if he still wants the flag to go up (he may change his mind if he learns the Scout is not Catholic). But typically, there should be no problem with this -you are a unit sponsored by this church - they've not made an unreasonable request. If you were sponsored by the Lions Club, or the American Leagion, or the Jaycees, and they asked, as the sponsoring institution, to have their flag carried in, would it be an issue? It shouldn't be. You won't be endorsing a religion, you'll be supporting your sponsor. Unless the Eagle Scout is bothered by this, in which case I'd suggest a new location for his COH, bring in the flag of the church as well - with one of your uniformed Scouts (using a KOC member would send a message of disrespect I would think). The only real issue you have is the protocol. If it is truly the flag of the Vatican City, there is a specific protocol (see US Flag Code) as to how it is displayed with the US Flag as its considered a flag of another nation. Double check the flag code and make sure the boys understand the placement. If it is a church flag (and not the Vatican flag), as SSScout suggests it might be, it still goes to the left of the US Flag though with a troop flag too, it could be placed to the right of the flag with the troop flag to the left of the flag and the US flag in the center, which would be the superior position in that case (that is if it's a church flag and not the Vatican flag - a church flag would be considered an "association" flag for code). Though in practice in some places that the church flag is put to the right (superior) to the US Flag (when they are the only two flags) during church services, this is actually incorrect to the code as the code only allows for a church pennant to be placed in a superior position to the US flag when church services are being held on a Naval ship at sea.

Eagle94 - I have no dog in this hunt but I can tell you what I picked up on right away - see if you notice what I have in the following passages: "I do not think the scout elected SPL should have been elected since A) he hasn't been in the troop a year yet, B) Is only a Tenderfoot, and C) has only 6 months as PL of the new scout patrol. Yes, my son got elected SPL on the second ballot." "You should have seen and heard me when I went to pick him up from that meeting! I asked him several times if he was serious, if he knew what being SPL fully entailed, if he really thinks he can handle it, and if this was a joke. I had the outgoing SPL confirm it wasn’t a joke, and still could not believe it until I got confirmation from the SM. Up until the PLC a week later, I kept asking him if he really knows what he is in for, if he can handle it, and if he thinks it may be better to step down." How many times are you planning on suggesting he step down before he takes the hint and realizes one of his best friends, the person he probably looks up to most of all and wants to be when he grows up, has absolutely no faith in his abilities and becomes completely demoralized and decides to just give up? I know you mean well and are just thinking about what's best for him but have you given any thought as to how you just might be coming across right now? You've told us how proud you are - have you told him? Instead of sowing doubt, how about letting him know you're right behind him to support him in whatever way you can? It really dosn't matter if you don't think he should be SPL - there are a whole bunch of people who disagree with you - and thats the young folks that elected him to the position. Unless the Troop is made up of a bunch of goof balls that don't take anything seriously, his peers - let me repeat that word - peers - would not have voted for him if they didn't think he could do the job. Two of the Scouts told you they liked the job he did as PL - that is high praise from boys of that age. As for experience? The only SPL's I've ever met with experience were those that served as SPL's previously. Most have absolutely no experience as SPL before they become SPL. That your son was a PL is already an advantage. It's been suggested that your son appoint someone to mentor him and to assume the functional role of SPL without title. Don't do it - that's a bad, bad idea. No problem with your son appointing a past SPL as ASPL to help him learn the role but in all cases, the ASPL must - let me repeat - MUST - defer to the SPL - just as the adults would in a properly boy-led Troop - counsel and advise in private and support in public. Unless the SPL has delegated a specific task to the ASPL where it would be appropriate for aother Scout to approach the ASPL directly for help, when approached, the ASPL should be saying "Let's go talk to the SPL". It also sounds like the Scoutmaster needs a bit of a pep talk. I'm not convinced that the best Scoutmasters are the ones with energy and pep - that's what ASM's are for. The best Scoutmasters I've ever worked with were "wise, "old" sages" who could talk to the boys and could mentor them. Your Scoutmaster doesn't need to be able to hike 10 miles in 4 hours carrying a 50 lb backpack - but he probably has all the energy he needs to meet with the PLC and mentor them through the planning process. Your son can be a great success at being SPL. Rank truly doesn't matter if the Scout has a positive and can-do attitude about the job. Don't undermine that attitude by broadcasting your fear. I've seen some really fantastic SPL's that were "only" a Tenderfoot and in a Troop for less than a year and I've seen some really awful SPL's that were Life or even Eagle Scouts that were "veterans".

If you're running First Year First Class and have a bunch of Scouts going through it at the same time, I can see where you might have 8 BORs in one night. We always hold BOR's on Troop Meeting nights - there is no issue with a Scout leaving a meeting for a BOR. The amount of time needed? 15 minutes - tops - for every rank except Eagle Scout. Yes, even for Life Scout - heck, especially for Life Scout - by the time a Scout is coming up for Life Scout, the Troop should already have a pretty good idea about who this lad is and you should be spending more time talking about future goals (Eagle Scout?) and less time talking about what he did at summer camp. Heck, my annual job performance review takes less time than the average BOR.

Hmmm - Not what I thought this thread was going to be about at all - I thought it might be about how the color combination of the yellow cords and khaki shirts was something even Andy Warhol would have stayed away from.

Of course the lesson here is even domestic animals that you are raising may react in a manner you don't expect.

How about The Ice Age Trail which runs through Central Wisconsin?

Stosh, The problem the booster clubs had were related to individual enrichment, a problem that wouldn't go away by operating under their schools exempt status instead - the school can't allow for individual enrichment either - hopefully, the school would have better review and control of expenses to prevent it from happening. Will the IRS be auditing scout units? Unlikely anytime soon but understand, the IRS has been gearing up to start more intensive reviews of non-profit organizations (which is why the IRS was scrutinizing those "republican" applications more closely (and obviously, Seattle, you never bothered to keep up with the story, or research beyond what some joker in the right wing mediasphere told you, or you would know that they also targeted progressive organizations with the same level of scrutiny and the same amount of delays and that the only organization actually denied status was a progressive group) and that it could happen sooner than later.

Before we start writing the obituary of the GSA, let's put some numbers into perspective. These numbers come from the AP article that Time uses in it's story. Yes, the Girl Scouts had a 6% drop in membership over last year. They've also dropped about 1 million members since 2003 and stand at about 2.8 million members. That is about a 27% loss since 2003. But how does that compare to the Boy Scouts of America? The BSA had a 6% drop in membership over last year (kind of spooky that the percentage drop matches the GSA, isn't it?) Theyve dropped about 800K members since 2002 - a percentage loss of about 24-25%. I'd say thats pretty closely tracking the trajectory of the Girl Scouts. The BSA has an estimated 2.5 million members. The GSA has an estimated 2.8 million members - the GSA still has more members than us. Surely the BSA membership numbers aren't dropping because of a relationship with Planned Parenthood. I suppose the BSA reduction could be the result of the controversy over gay scouts and scouters in the BSA, or maybe suburban moms concerned about school shootings have learned of the BSA's partnership with the NRA. Given how closely the membership number drops seem to be tracking between both organizations, I'd suggest that the controversies over Planned Parenthood and gays in Boy Scouting are barely a blip in the cause and further suggest that the BSA and GSA are affected by the same societal forces that are affecting the membership numbers of organizations like Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.

I think Seattle is absolutely right - just because you don't vote doesn't mean you don't get to complain - but as I tell everyone who hasn't voted and starts to complain, you may have a right to complain but since you didn't vote, you haven't earned the right to be taken seriously. Media pumping out propaganda? There is no need for propaganda when your target audience, in this case "The American People" are so stupid that they'll believe anything they hear without question. Coupled with a Media that is more than capable of publishing stupid stuff all on their own, and Goebels would be drooling at how easy it would be here. The media-caused panic over Ebola is a prime example. 4 people brought it from overseas - only 1 died - and 2 people caught it here - both survived quite nicely - and the media calls it an Outbreak? We're attempting to quarantine nurses who don't have the virus and think that's ok but no one thinks about quarantining people with the flu which kills up to 39 thousand people a year? We're refusing to let kids go to school who have visited Africa? We're demanding that teachers self quarantine after visiting East African countries that are farther away from places in Africa with Ebola that places in the US that had Ebola patients to the schools? We've got people "self-quarantining" because they were in Africa 2 years ago? Yeah - no one needs to put together a program of propaganda - the sheeple are already brain dead.

Lets make sure we understand something - there is a difference between private benefit and individual inurement. Individual inurement entails personal enrichment of members of the organization. Raising funds for a pack or troop then have scout accounts credited with a percentage of the funds raised personally enriches the scouts, and thats individual inurment, and that's not allowed by the IRS (and leave it to the BSA to provide information that misses the point). Private benefit would be more along the lines of, as an example, a lake association raising funds from the general public for lake improvements and spending all the money on a lake without general public access. That would be 100% private benefit to the property owners around the lake. If the lake has general public access, then the percentages come in to play - as long as the funds expended benefit the general public by at least 70%, you should be ok. Under that scenario, one or more of the private properties on the lake might get shoreline enhancements which would be a private benefit but as long as its in the gray area of under 30% of the total funds raised (at this time), it should be ok. It would be rare for a pack or a troop to fall into trouble under private benefit provisions because the BSA is open to membership from the general public, the boys are considered part of the general public, and therefore the money a pack or troop spends on the equipment and program is seen as being spent for the benefit of the general public. The IRS does understand that non-profits may need to spend money to make money - spending money with a printer to make up flyers is not giving a private benefit to the printer - it's just expending money on behalf of the troop/pack.

Even with the info Fred posted there still seems to be some confusion regarding EIN's and tax exempt status, etc. First, the EIN is NOT evidence of tax exempt status. It is merely an identification number within the IRS of your pack, troop, crew, business, organization, etc. It does not affect your actual tax status, nor does it impose any requirements of reporting. Individuals have a form if EINs as well - we call the Social Security Numbers. SSNs are now issued to infants (I got mine when I was 11 as part of a school project). We don't make infants, or 11 year olds, file taxes because they have SSNs. Banks pretty much require an EIN or SSN in order to open an account. Fred points out an interesting note from the IRS - it should not be read to mean that you have to start filing tax returns within 3 years of receiving an EIN. What it says is if you are thinking of applying for tax-exempt status, it is advantageous to apply for the EIN after receiving the tax-exempt status. If you haven't and file for tax exempt status 2 years later, you now have to start reporting in one year instead of 3. If you file for tax exempt status 6 years after receiving the EIN, you could be required to file for 3 years of past due tax returns, with penalties and all. For most units with an EIN, you will not have to file any forms, provided your receipts are under $50,000 per year. You will only have to file if you also have tax exempt status of your own. Note also the "insubstantial/substantial" language - the IRS has defined 30% as substantial for individual benefit - if you do fundraising shares, that means that if you credit a Scout with $30, it is a substantial amount; and they've defined 2% as insubstantial so if you credit them with $2, it's insubstantial. Does that mean it's ok to credit them $2? No - its still illegal. What the language sets is the thresholds for IRS enforcement. The IRS has determined that 2% of individual benefit is just not worth their enforcement time but that 30% is. The amounts in between? Still to be determined - don't think for a second that they won't enforce at 20% sometime down the road. As for Scout Accounts from scout savings - yes, you can do it - it's been a time-honored tradition of the BSA almost from the beginning - is it a good idea? Are you a bank? Let's remember, life was "simpler" 50 years ago - now, there are a lot more regulations meant to protect consumers in banking transactions. Think about this for a minute or two - if you do happen to run into someone who controls your checking account who is dishonest and is siphoning off troop funds and you should have $5,000 in your account, including $2,000 in Scout Account savings, and you suddenly discover you have $50 and the check writer has "disappeared" (even if you know where to send the police, it still needs to be prosecuted) you have a moral, if not legal, obligation to return the missing "scout account" money to the Scouts. That's why we suggest that the Scouts open their own acount with their bank - their deposits are protected by insurance, and it will earn interest (even if it's just a dime).

Seems to me that the only other social group that got that special right to marriage was straight people. It must be painful to have lost that special right you enjoyed now that it is an equal right.

I had suggested that YOU take some time and read the SM Handbook, the SPL Handbook, the PL Handbook and the Troop Committee Guidebook. I gave you that suggestion because those books would give you a good grounding in how much different a Troop runs from a Pack and would help you through a lot of the questions you've got. The response was a snarky bit about telling other people to read the SPL manual and figure it out which obviously showed you missed the point. You've just now spoke about calendars - had you read the Troop Committee Guidebook, you would have learned that one of the committee's jobs is to help the PLC prepare for their annual planning sessions by doing just what you have suggested - consolidating school, religious, and Council/District calendars into one. Oh - and those joint Pack/Troop activities - have the Scouts agreed to those or are they being dictated from on high? The only activities that should come from the committee as mandatory would be those days that the CO Is expecting some kind of participation from the Troop. If the Pack wants to have activities with the Troop, then guess what, in a boy-led program, they ask the PLC and wait for their decision. This is where a good Scoutmaster steps in with mentoring skills - the SM becomes the Wise Old Sage in quietly suggesting to the PLC that these would be good for the Troop - but the SM will also be ready to stand up for the PLC if they decide that one or more of the activities just don't fit in to their schedule this year. Had you read the Troop Committee Guidebook, you would understand that the number one job of the Troop Committee is to support the Scouts and their program. Scouts plan the calendar - the committee then helps make that Calendar a success. If the Scouts want to go to a local BSA camp one weekend, who makes the call to Council? A member of the committee (there is even a committee member whose job it is to do these things). Who files the trip permit? The committee. Who contacts the State Park for a reservation? The committee (understand, part of the reason its like this is that most councils, state parks, local campgrounds, and national parks and forests will not, by policy, make a reservation with a 13 year old - those reservations can be considered contracts and minors can't enter into them, in general). In most Troops, if the Troop needs new tents, the committee will do the initial research and select a few for the Scouts to select from. Replacement of troop gear? The QM informs the committee member that helps keep track of troop equipment and the committee gets it done. Budgeting and fundraising? Again, a committee responsibility (there is no treasurer position of responsibility for the boys). They might be able to create a preliminary budget on some things, but it's really going to be the committee doing most of the research. If the Scouts want to visit an archery range, the committee will find one. The committee really does have a lot to do - but all of it is in support of the Scout's program. The Scoutmaster has do so his/her part as well - and the biggest part of that is to mentor and guide the SPL and PLC in the planning process and being able to quietly suggest they have 4 things on their calendar that is going to be costly - how will they get that money? The SM can have great outdoors skills - and the way to pass that on is to teach it to the PLC so the PLC can pass on those skills. The best PLC planning meetings are a PLC only camping trip to a local scout camp where planning, bonding and skills reviews can be done. If you are really worried about a new crop of parents coming in and creating a W-3 Troop, then don't create the environment for them to get that kind of foothold - what you're suggesting sounds reasonable for a struggling troop - it also sounds exaclty like the mold needed to build a W-3 Troop. Build the boys first - maybe you need 4 planning sessions to start - plan out quarters at a time. Don't go with more than one summer camp - too ambitious and your dividing the NSP from the rest of the Troop - just more ammunition for the parents who might want a W-3 Troop. Get them some ranks - get your committee working on supporting the Boys program. The best advice I can give you to avoid that W-3 Troop is to start getting into the PLC planning the program now - sure, they may not be able to plan more than 4 months in advance right now, but you all need to present a united front when the time comes to say to a new scout parent - "That's up to the PLC" Oh, and please understand, you can take or leave our advice at will - it won't hurt our feelings, but also know that many of us have many years of experience with this - we're not just spitting things out of the books, we're letting you know that it really does work if you let it.

The BSA does not tell a unit how to operate it's committee - it gives job descriptions and a suggested agenda in the Troop Committee Guidebook, but that's as far is it goes - it does recommend a video called "The Barbeque" for a, once again "suggested" way of operating a troop committee meeting. The Troop Committee Guidebook does not come right out and say when (or if) a committee should take a vote on things, the BSA literature does not come right out and talk about voting by committee members. That is not to say that committees should not take votes or should only work on consensus. In fact, the Troop Committee Guidebook obliquely hints that Troop Committees will likely take votes on things throughout the course of the year. How does it do this? By making this statement: "The Scoutmaster is not a member of the Troop Committee and has no vote." Now why would the BSA feel the need to point out that the Scoutmaster has no vote at committee meetings if the committees aren't expected to vote on things? Even consensus building is a form of voting - it may not be a formalized "All those in favor" vote, but it's still a way to determine what direction to take.

My only question to them would be "Do you have experience camping in a tent in a campsite without electricity?" A non-scout with tent camping experience I would accept on what I see as a "Camping 301" experience. A non-scout that has never camped, or has only camped in an RV or trailer would be a no go on a Wilderness Survival (Camping 301) camping trip but would be fine on a "normal" camping trip.

There is a saying on the Appalachian Trail: Hike your own hike. We used to say (and some of us still do) in the Boy Scouts: Advance at your own pace Maybe we need to revise for the Boy Scouts: Make your Boy Scout Experience your own Boy Scout Experience. Ok, maybe they don't do as much outing - maybe they don't want to be Eagle Scouts - maybe their interests lie in a completely different direction than conquering the great outdoors. But that doesn't mean the Boy Scouts can't offer them something (and vice-versa). Have any of them earned one of the following merit badges that seem perfect for this group of young men yet? Digital Technology? Robotics? Game Design? How about Engineering? Remember, one of the reasons for merit badges is so that the boys can explore different vocations and avocations while they're young - how many, let's call them Technoboys, are out there not in scouting just wasting time in front of a computer or game console just being entertained - how many of then might benefit from the more technological merit badges that might spark an interest in them to take their fun times further into a career? Have you thought about trying to recruit an ASM that may have similar interests that can think beyond the narrow box we sometimes put certain things into? For instance, have any of them earned Orienteering yet? Do you have someone who can convince them that Orienteering can help them with gaming by putting them through an invisible maze that reveals itself through compass points and pacing? I know there is a big faction of folks who love to talk about the Outing in Scouting but has anyone actually looked at the requirements lately? The number of camping nights out needed for Eagle happens to be the same number of camping nights needed for Camping Merit Badge - Any troop that has not handed their new Scouts a blue card for camping merit badge the day the join is missing a golden opportunity to get those camping nights started - sure, it may take this group of folks longer to get them done, but if any of them do want to be Eagle, they only need to camp about 3 nights per year from 11 to 17 - and blue cards don't expire. I love the search and rescue outing idea - this Patrol could be engaged as base camp support coordinating the search and rescue while the other Patrol(s) are out doing the searching. I suspect that we're looking at the near term future of the Boy Scouts of America - and it's not really unexpected.

It's now November (or will be in a few days) - why wait another 8 to 9 months to concentrate of T-SC-FC? These advancements should be coming naturally as part of your regular Troop programs - there is nothing wrong with setting aside skills time at troop meetings and at troop campouts. You say you have a bunch of Scouts with lots of merit badges and partials from camp but no rank advancement to go with - I don't see that as a failure of summer camp or as a call for some stupid policy - I see it as something the lads know intrinsically - without being prompted - that the whole "Trail to First Class" stuff being done at summer camps is a real waste of time and opportunity at camp - summer camp offers better opportunities for some of the merit badges than outside of camp while T-SC-FC can be done at any time. You're going to have Webelos crossing over in just a few short months - the folks that are going to be getting them through T-SC-FC are sitting in front of you stuck at Scout and Tenderfoot - waiting for an adult leader to mentor them properly and help them reach their goals. From what you're describing, the recent batch of SMs just didn't know how to best run the program so they've taken stuff they've heard and ran with it without really understanding what it means. If the lads haven't been advancing for any reason other than their own lack of interest, I lay that firmly at the feet of the SM - it's his job to help shepard the program so that there are plenty of opportunities for advancement - it can all be done under the Boy-led model (it is NOT boy-run - boy-run is Lord of the Flies - nothing gets done and it is not Adult-run either - it is Boy-led with Adult-mentoring and Adult-support). Suggesting that the Troop have a policy that Scouts concentrate on the Trail to First Class the first time at Summer Camp is really just another way for the adult leaders to shunt their responsibilities off to someone else. My suggestion - DON'T DO IT - it leads to a weak program and it demoralizes first year Scouts who look with excitement at the possibility of earning some cool merit badges at camp that he won't have much of an opportunity to do the rest of the year who are then told that they can't do it because they have to earn ranks that can AND SHOULD be earned as a regular part of the Troop program at their own pace. I would also suggest that you do not do multiple summer camps - summer camp is a great time to achieve unit cohesiveness and you can't do that if a third of your unit camps one week, a third camps a different week and another third camps a completely different week. Choose one week (and this is a PLC decision - with guidance from the SM/ASM's and/or other adults that will be making the trip to ensure no conflicts). Fundraising - I have to say it though it's the elephant in the Boy-led model that so many troops are trying to push the boundaries of - the Committee's job is to support the Boys and their program - part of that support is to help prepare the budget and fundraising activities that support the budget. The PLC, as part of their planning process, can get the ball rolling - the Committee will finalize the budget - there is no POR on the Boy side called Treasurer, after all. Part of that support is to come up with fundraising projects - the easiest is to start with popcorn sales - but you can do garage sales, wreath sales, candle sales, tree sales, etc - the planning will mostly fall to the adults until they get established (most of those pancake breakfasts, tree sales, pumpkin sales, etc. were started years and years ago by Troop committees - they may be "run" by the boys now, but the foundation was laid a long time ago). Yes, absolutely ask the boys if they'd be interested in doing certain fundraisers, but don't expect them to be able to pull them together themselves. My suggestion before you get started on any improvements for the Troop is to get a copy of the SM's handbook, Committee Guidebook, SPL's handbook and PL's handbook - even old copies will do - and read them all first - use these to start and your compass will be pointed in the right direction.

Before you criticize Spam, have you really given it a chance? Maybe original Spam isn't for you but one of the other varieties will float your boat. Maybe Oven Roasted Turkey Spam, or Teriyaki Spam, or Spam with Bacon, or Spam and Cheese or Hickory Smoked Spam. Maybe you want it hotter? Try Hot and Spicy Spam, or Chorizo Seasoning Spam or Jalapeno Spam or Black Pepper Spam. Or maybe you want a little less - try Spam Lite or 25% Less Sodium Spam.

I predict that we will see the following question asked in a thread at some point in the future: "I just received an invitation to the same-sex wedding of the Eagle Scout I mentored when I was his Scoutmaster - what should I do?"

My Side of the Mountain - Jean Craighead George. Fictional book, not about a Boy Scout, but a great study in the conflicting sense of adventure and fear, and the desire for autonomy that teen boys often have.

To clarify, I meant the BSA has it's own "Catholic Church" problem, not the defending religious group.

I don't believe there is any one perception of the Boy Scouts - it all depends on who and where you are in your life. When I was a Scout in the 1970's, a lot of kids thought of Scouts as being "Dorky". Talking to my uncle, he said that in the 50's and 60's, a lot of kids thought of Scouts as being "Dorky". Throughout the 80's, 90's, 00's and up to now, there were/are a lot of kids who think of Scouts as being "Dorky". Maybe we should be celebrating that some things haven't changed. During WW2, the Scouts were seen as being an important part of the war effort at home with scrap collection drives, etc. During the Vietnam War, many people perceived of the Boy Scouts as being a quasi-military training ground (which ironically, is one of the reasons Baden-Powell created the Boy Scouts - to start teaching some basic skills needed to succeed in the military). It probably didn;t help that being an Eagle Scout often meant jumping to the head of the promotion line right out of boot camp. In the 50's and 60's, there was a perception that the Boy Scouts was mostly rural or suburban (Follow Me Boys is decidedly small, Kansas-like rural town in flavor). In the 60's and 70's, there was also a huge migration from rural to urban (all those advancements in farm technology led to fewer people needed to operate farms). In my opinion it was the perception that the Scouts were quasi-military and rural-suburban that led to the 1970's revamping of the program to take in more of an urban population. In the 1980's, the perception seemed to be rock-solid middle class white-bread suburbia. Up to this point, the BSA had been witness to a lot of social change but was always on the periphery - in the 1990's, that changed - hello James Dale. The BSA let itself get caught up in a debate it should have ignored and the perception created by the Dale case was that the BSA was a religious organization and mostly aligned with Christianity - except at the local unit level which was trying its best to ignore the controversies. Unfortunately, given every opportunity to go with the flow of the river rather than being one of the rocks in the rapids being pounded by the river of public opinion, it chose the route of the rock. Social norms had changed to the point where same-sex couples raising children was common and it was inevitable that there would be same sex couples wanting their child to be a Cub Scout - refusing to register one of those parents as a leader was sure to open up a big can of worms - and it did - the perception of the BSA became one of an increasingly out-of-touch, discriminatory religious organization being defended by right-wing evangelicals and a religious organization still seen with a lot of suspicion since the killing of Joseph Smith in Illinois with it's own "Catholic Church" problem. The "compromise" solution has made things worse, not better - now, no one is happy. I think there will always be people who think the BSA is "dorky". I think there will always be people who think the BSA is a junior military. I think there will always be people who think the BSA is discriminatory and exclusionary. I think there will always be people who think the BSA sells out too quickly to the "politically correct" or to the "religious right" I think there will always be people who think the BSA is changing too fast or not changing fast enough. Given a US population of about 300 million and a BSA membership of adults and youth at about 1.5 million, I suspect the majority of people just don't give any thought to the BSA at all.

$200 for a Cub Pack Flag? The most expensive on Scout Stuff is $99. Policies for funds? NO Scout Accounts - First - we're not a bank - if a family wants to make installment payments for summer camp, etc. we suggest opening a savings account at a local bank for that purpose - in the Scouts and Parent's name - signature of parent required for scout to withdraw money. Second - fundraising is for the benefit of the unit, not individuals - there is no "Scout Share" of fundraising monies - it's not just a royal pain to administer, it is, despite what some yahoos in some Councils will tell you, against the law. Two signatures on every check required - preferably NOT the Treasurer's (who may be on the signature card for legal disclosure reasons but does not have to sign the checks). No online banking transactions beyond account look-ups and accepting credit cards through Square (or similar) if your unit decides to do so. No reimbursements without receipt. $150 limit on individual transactions without committee approval (there is no need to hold up a grubmaster's request for $60 food reimbursement until a committee meeting). Written Treasurer's report at every committee meeting. NO DEBIT CARDS - ever, never, ever.

The BSA bans heaters in tents because they assume outdoor heaters are gas fired heaters and gas fired heaters generate carbon monoxide - not a good thing in an enclosed environment like a tent. They didn't take into account electric heaters but still not a good idea - ever wake up to a cold day with condensation dripping down the insides of the windows? You can thank your heating system for that. The condensation from breathing is bad enough - you don't need condensation from warm air rising to meet cold air outside the tent - that's a sure recipe for creating a rainstorm in your tent. I'm going to buck a trend here and I'm going to tell you that cotton t-shirts are just fine for sleeping in. The reason "cotton is a killer" is that unlike wool or polypro, which wicks moisture from the inside to the outside of a garment, cotton holds moisture much more easily so as you're active and sweating, a cotton t-shirt is getting soaked though and not wicking the moisture away from your body. At night, while sleeping, if you're sweating so badly that you need to wear wool or polypro, then you have way too many layers going in your sleep system for that night. My system - closed cell pad (ensolite) topped with open-celled pad (thermorest), lightweight fleece blanket, sleeping bag (opened and treated as a blanket) - t-shirt and shorts (put on fresh right before bed) - no socks (though I'll wear wool socks only because I use my sleeping bag like a blanket and risk having my little tootsies sticking outside), hat optional (mostly needed by bald adults - if you have a full head of hair, you already have the best insulator you need on your head - a hat will compress it - and I know all about the old "more heat escapes from your head" story - it is true, but only because the head if the least likely place on your body to be fully covered by clothes - relatively speaking, the amount of heat that does escape from the head on a cold day or night is pretty inconsequential - your body will generate more heat that it will lose through your head if you remain somewhat active), I'll wear a sweatshirt for the first hour or so - mostly to temper the warming of the sheet and bag - (it is body heat that is trapped by the insulation in your sleeping bag and sleeping pad - you want to "temper" the rate in which your body warms those up - the added sweatshirt slows the transfer down just enough so that most people won't be shivering in a warm bag by midnight). If it's really really cold, I'll wear a balaclava as well - but only because no matter what the temperature, the face stays out of the bag so that you're breathing into the tenant and not the bag - your breathing will create some condensation on the tent walls - better the tent walls that inside your sleeping bag. I've stayed comfortable at 20 below like this.